Why Does Seeing Writers Write Make Us More Motivated?

Hi everyone! Today's post is a little different than a bookish meme or a review -- instead, I'm going to talk about writing. As many of you may know -- if not all of you, by this point -- I (Jessica) am a huge romance writer and reader. If it has a steamy or swoon-worthy storyline and it's a contemporary, the chances are it's probably already on my to-read list. Which is why, of course, I've been a huge fan of Jane the Virgin for so long. I'm currently on my eighth rerun because I just can't get enough of it!

And that's when I noticed something -- for those of you who don't know, the story follows Jane, a young Latina woman living in Miami who goes through some pretty hilarious, stressful, and even scary circumstances (which I won't spoil for you!). But one of the biggest parts of the story is the fact that Jane is an aspiring romance novelist, which you see unfold a lot on the screen. And this is what I've noticed: Every single time there's a scene where Jane is working on her novel, or getting a burst of writing inspiration, or staying up until the sun rises to add words to her manuscript, I feel this sudden urge to pick up my own laptop and work on my own book. Every single time. It's seriously like magic -- any time I need some motivation or inspiration to write, I end up watching an episode or two of Jane the Virgin. It's my magic cure for writer's block. 

And I thought I was alone in that endeavor, but apparently not! Plenty of people I've spoken to said that they too feel more motivated to write when a character in pop culture -- whether it's a show or a podcast or even another book that follows another writer -- features someone who is chasing their dream of becoming published. And it really made me think about it -- why exactly is this? My unofficial guess is that there's something about seeing a character in a story that you love achieving the same dream that you want that just really lights that fire in you and makes you want to hit the ground running with your own work. But maybe it's just the fact that Jane the Virgin is a show centered around a woman who is an aspiring writer and a hopeless romantic -- AKA, just like me -- so I see a lot of myself in Jane and aspire to be a lot like her. Who knows? All I know for sure is that an episode or two of the show is like my magic writing potion on the days where the words just won't come, and that's pretty cool.

So I wanted to ask, because I was curious -- does this happen to anyone else out there? Does seeing someone else in a book or movie achieving their writing goals make you want to put the pen to the paper (or your fingers to the keyboard!) yourself, or is this just a me thing? Comment down below and let me know!